Starring BetterBrand, Walgreens, and Sainsbury’s: check out last week’s most read RTIH retail technology articles
These are the articles on this here website that caught your fancy last week, including Amazon Fresh, Asda, Cooler Screens, La-Z-Boy, Pacsun, Walmart, and the 2023 RTIH Innovation Awards.
Don’t miss your chance to enter the 2023 RTIH Innovation Awards: deadline for submissions 27th October
There are just three weeks left to submit your entries for the 2023 RTIH Innovation Awards, which takes place on Wednesday, 29th November at the Barbican Arts Centre in central London.
The event, sponsored by PMC, CADS, 3D Cloud by Marxent, and Goodays, celebrates global tech innovation in a fast moving omnichannel world.
Spread over 19 different categories, submissions are judged on the extent of innovation and transformation demonstrated, as well as the sustainability of the results.
Previous year’s winners have included B&Q, Pets at Home, Walmart, Sook, AiFi, Compass Group, Obsess, and Ribble Cycles.
Deadline for 2023 submissions is Friday, 27th October.
The awards will culminate in a fantastic ceremony, complete with a drinks reception and Christmas themed three-course meal at the Barbican Arts Centre on Wednesday 29th November.
A key event highlight is an exclusive pre-awards roundtable discussion, enabling retailers, tech suppliers and advisors to come together and talk about current retail challenges and opportunities.
Key dates
Friday, 27th October: Award entry deadline
Tuesday, 31st October: 2023 shortlist revealed
6th-10th November: Judging days
Wednesday, 29th November: The 2023 RTIH Innovation Awards ceremony
Categories, along with entry forms, can be found here.
‘Simply unacceptable’: UK retailers tell government to put its words into action as retail crime soars
88 UK retailers, including Tesco, Boots, John Lewis Partnership, and Marks & Spencer, have signed a letter to the Home Secretary, Suella Braverman, demanding action over rising rates of retail crime.
The 2023 BRC Crime Survey showed that incidents of violence and abuse towards retail colleagues had almost doubled on pre-pandemic levels to 867 incidents every day in 2021/22.
It also put the scale of retail theft at £953 million, despite over £700 million in crime prevention spending by retailers. This meant the total cost of retail crime stood at £1.76 billion for the 12-month period to April.
A separate BRC survey of members in 2023, meanwhile, found that levels of shoplifting in ten major cities had risen by an average of 27%. This is not to mention the cascade of recent press stories detailing the wave of theft and violence currently impacting shops across the UK.
London shoppers at Amazon Fresh convenience store in Monument get self-checkout option
Amazon Fresh customers can now pay at self-checkouts in the Monument, London store, in addition to using a Just Walk Out technology powered checkout-free option.
In a LinkedIn post, Charlie Mills, Head of In-Store & Local Marketing at Amazon Fresh, said: “Customers get the choice of scanning and paying for items using the self-checkout and they can still checkout at the gates using our Just Walk Out technology.”
“The Amazon Fresh in-store shopping experience is made possible by the same types of technologies used in self-driving cars: computer vision, sensor fusion, and deep learning.”
“Our Just Walk Out Technology automatically detects when products are taken from or returned to the shelves, and keeps track of them in a virtual basket. Using the self-checkout adds another convenient way to shop. Pretty cool.”
The ultimate aim here is alleviating some of the friction associated with Just Walk Out technology.
Asda inks multi-year divestiture and digital transformation deal with Tata Consultancy Services
Tata Consultancy Services has announced a multi-year partnership with Asda to support its digital transformation and to implement a new organisation wide IT operating model, following its divestiture from Walmart.
This will see the grocery giant leverage TCS’ cloud, AI, and security solutions.
TCS will build a new digital core by implementing multiple cloud-based ERP platforms to streamline Asda’s supply chain forecasting, buying and merchandising processes, HR processes, warehouse management, and e-commerce processes.
Additionally, it will use its Machine First Delivery Model to automate the retailer’s IT operations, with the aim of providing a seamless experience for employees and customers, and improving operational resilience.
Costa Coffee brings in Vista Technology Support as its new retail stores break-fix provider
Vista Technology Support has announced a partnership with Costa Coffee.
The tech support company will apply its Continuous Service Improvement (CSI) philosophy with the aim of reducing the occurrence of system faults and outages, and to maintain maximum operational time in over 1,500 Costa Coffee stores across the UK.
When unable to predict a likely outage or interruption through CSI, the Vista Field Services Team of more than 130 engineers around the UK will be mobilised to repair and resolve any issues.
Sainsbury’s, Nectar360, Clear Channel celebrate partnership milestone with digital screen network move
Nectar360, which owns and operates Nectar, a UK loyalty coalition programme, as well as managing Sainsbury’s and Argos’ retail media services, has announced plans to expand its connected digital screen network to over 800 screens, in conjunction with out of home media and infrastructure company, Clear Channel, a move that also includes the launch of a new internal screen network.
The Sainsbury's Live network currently reaches millions of shoppers every week through more than 320 full motion digital screens, placed at store entrances.
It will now become the UK’s largest connected digital supermarket screen network, as Clear Channel upgrades the existing offering, expanding the external screen network to include 420 screens and launching up to 400 internal ones across stores nationwide.
An accident waiting to happen?: Major Cooler Screens and Walgreens retail technology deal collapses
According to a report by The Wall Street Journal, the supplier, Cooler Screens, is suing the pharmacy chain, saying that Walgreens binned a US roll-out of the internet connected doors and demanded their removal from stores.
Walgreens, meanwhile, insists that the tech didn’t work. It ended its agreement with Cooler Screens in February, according to court documents.
When the then CEO Rosalind Brewer toured Walgreens stores featuring the digital screens, she is said to have made the comment, "It's like being on the strip in Las Vegas."
In a LinkedIn post, Brittain Ladd, a supply chain consultant and former Amazon executive, said: “I don't like the screens either and I applaud Ms. Brewer's decision to have them removed from Walgreens stores.”
“In fact, I do more than applaud Ms. Brewer, I give her a standing ovation. And yes, installing the screens does turn a store into a mini-Las Vegas. In addition, the screens make me feel like I am in Tokyo, Japan or Hong Kong.”
He added: “The agreement between Cooler Screens and Walgreens has a feel of sleaziness about it that I've never liked. It appears to be a classic case of a former executive leaving their employer, starting a company, and then returning to the employer to "cut a deal" which results in the former employer buying products or services.”
“In the case of Cooler Screens, Greg Wasson, is the former CEO of Walgreens. Obviously, Walgreens Boots Alliance board of directors didn't find anything wrong with doing business with their former CEO, but I would have never allowed an agreement to be signed. I strongly encourage the next CEO of Walgreens to continue with the suit and remove every screen from their stores. All of them.”
FoodTech startup BetterBrand launches Better Bagel product in the UK following Series A funding round
BetterBrand has announced its expansion to the UK after going live in the US with its product range.
It will debut three SKUs of its ‘hero’ product, the Better Bagel exclusively at Whole Foods Market store locations in the UK from 2nd October.
This comes off the heels of the company’s Series A, where its CEO and Founder, Aimee C. Yang set the record for the highest Series A valuation posted by a female founder in venture history of $170 million.
“Our journey started with a simple mission: to reimagine the bread aisle and bring joy to healthy eating. The response and demand from our US customers since launch has been overwhelmingly positive, so we are thrilled to bring BetterBrand to the UK consumer,” says Yang.
“Becoming an international brand is a huge milestone for us. We are proud to celebrate this, and are grateful to the Whole Foods Market team, who have been incredible partners every step of the way.”
La-Z-Boy, Pacsun, and Walmart head up September’s biggest retail technology plays at a glance
RTIH rounds up the stand out retail systems deals, deployments and pilots from September, including 3D Cloud by Marxent, Roblox, shopreme, Nedap, Pricer, Pixevia, NewStore, and Attensi.
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